The Green Embassy, Sagara – Why you must check out this hotel when you visit Jog Falls

Introduction

My cousin arrived from United States of America and I had a chance to decide to have a backpack trip with him. It was a short decision to make and I had to hurry to make the best use of the time I had with him. For over 40 years I’ve never visited Jog Falls and I was always wanting to go there to see what it felt like to stand in front of the Majestic waterfalls of Karnataka.
We had to quickly book a mode of transport to get us there & also had to book a hotel for our stay there. Besides this we also had to find ways of reaching Jog Falls, seeing place and getting back to Bangalore within a day.

Route map

The distance from Bangalore to Jog Falls is about 445 km and it roughly takes about anywhere between 7 to 8 hours to reach there. We had a few options to get there which included KSRTC, going by train or driving there.
I have given to many places already within India and I was kind of fed up of taking my car out for this journey. As one would expect getting train tickets is extremely difficult to go to this place since this route is always busy and many people book the tickets in advance. So that left me with only one another option which was KSRTC.
My cousin said he would take care of the booking for the KSRTC bus and my responsibility was to book the hotel in a place called Sagar which was close to Jog Falls. The train actually goes to a place called talguppa but it is a place which is a bit nondescript and has only a railway station there. Please bear in mind that this place does not have proper hotels or stay options although there are some homestays near by.
Your best option would be to go to Shimoga or Sagara. There are frequent buses from Sagar to Jog Falls and it would roughly take about an hour to reach there. Although Google Maps says that it’s about 38 to 40 minutes one must factor into the route the railway crossing as well as the drive Downhill and again a bit Uphill to reach Jog Falls. Given this consideration and some wait time at the bus stand in Sagar it is better to keep about an hour for your travel to reach there.
I have already written a blog post about the KSRTC bus booking service online which you can read more about here. For this blog post I will focus on the hotel that we stayed in which was called the green Embassy in Sagar.

Criteria for the hotel choices

One of the main criteria that I had for choosing a hotel was that it must be very near to the bus stand or railway station or both if possible. Not only that it also had to have a decent restaurant as well as should be available at a value for money price. After doing a bit of research I did find that the gerusoppa kstdc hotel at Jog Falls itself was booked completely for the weekend.
Also since it was pretty expensive I had to choose something more reasonable. This is where I came across green embassy hotel which I finally booked.

Distance

The green embassy hotel is about 4 minutes by drive and about 10 to 15 minutes by walk from the bus stand or railway station in Sagar. This actually ticked my requirement for having hotel nearby. For the uninitiated this hotel is not a four or five star hotel but a more reasonable hotel in the area. It has nearly about three to four floors with a decent amount of rooms.

Rooms

The rooms are surprisingly clean and had large Windows and curtains. The beds were large and neat and the room also had a writing table and the customary wardrobe in it. One of the most important things everybody Looks for while booking a hotel is how good the toilet is. I was pleasantly surprised with the toilet within the room. Again it was not of four or five star quality but then for what it was it offered a very neat Western commode a good large and neat wash basin, with all the toiletries kept beside it.

Toilets

The toilet also had a shower partition and the water was quite hot for a good satisfying shower. One of the problems I always have with hotels is the pressure from the shower. Sometimes the pressure is so low that the whole experience of having a good shower is lost. The green Embassy was good in that respect.

Restaurant

Breakfast was complementary along with the hotel cost per night but since we stayed only for the day we had to pay originally for the breakfast. The breakfast is not a generous spread, but rather a few items of the menu that the waiter will discuss with you. Based on what you like he will be able to make a the crispy dosa and serve you Idli and vada, besides offering a few other things like Hot and Cold beverages and a few other items.

There are two restaurants within the hotel one is called swadishta and the other is called garlic. One the first one is a pure vegetarian restaurant the second one is a combination of veg and non veg food. We preferred to have food in the vegetarian restaurant and hence could not get a chance to check out the garlic restaurant for the vegetarian choices there.
The restaurant itself was very pricey and for just a handful of items that we eat we ended up paying up to almost 500 rupees which was high in my opinion. Not to worry though because there are very good restaurants around the area just if you step out of the hotel. All these restaurants can be found between the hotel and the railway station as you take a walk. So if you are not in the mood for having pricey food within the hotel you can always step out for a walk to eat somewhere cheaper.
The food itself was good but it was not of the best quality that you get in other major towns. How it was still tasty and we liked it a lot.

Cost of stay

I had already pre negotiated my time of arrival with the hotel and the chicken itself was pretty smooth and not a major affair. Our room was already ready by the time we reached Sagar.
Typical Hotel costs in These areas can range between 2000 to 5000 rupees. Green Embassy was somewhere in between. The room rack rate was 2000 rupees and we got the room at about 2300 rupees without breakfast. With breakfast it would amount to about 2800 rupees which is slightly on the higher side for a place like Sagar.
I also ordered a couple of beverages using room service which cost about 78 rupees.

The good parts about the hotel

[ ] proximity to railway station and bus station by walk
[ ] very neat and clean
[ ] good toilets
[ ] decent breakfast
[ ] a large enough car park

The bad parts about the hotel

[ ] breakfast is a bit pricey
[ ] the TV has very minimal channels and to do very well with an attached set top box

Conclusion

The Green Embassy is a very reasonable hotel for a place like Sagar. Its proximity to the bus station and the railway station makes it all the more likeable.

The varieties of restaurants available should cater to most people who want some good. The neat rooms and a friendly reception plus a reasonable car park and front entrance make this hotel good to stay in.

If you’re going for short stay which does not involve breakfast you can negotiate the rates with the hotel upfront. The best way to get to Sagar would be by bus or by train. Driving there is pretty long distance and can make you tired.

If you like this post and you wish to visit Jog Falls please do share this with your friends. If you have any queries or comments type them in the comments box below.

Why you should NOT watch Spiderman Homecoming at the box office

(image souce: Wikipedia)

It’s almost predictable what Spiderman movies would be like. Spin few webs here and there, save a big vehicle from disaster – a train or a ship or a plane, love a girl and use his skills to impress her and in the end fight an enemy, starting off with some small attacks being handled.

But Spiderman homecoming takes it to another level. The first half is barely interesting even for kids and I am not sure how Marvel thought they can keep the audience glued to the screen. The 3D effects are NOT the most brilliant or spectacular either. Bringing in the character of Stark to this movie the focus is split between the super heroes as well.

Add to that a friend knows who spiderman is makes it worse. Just to save the world from weapons of mass destruction spiderman brings down a plane carrying those weapons. I mean as though a person handling owning these weapons only had a planeful of them – kind of absurd for a company like Marvel to think of.

In short – its definitely NOT value for your money and you are better off waiting for it to appear on amazon or google movies to watch it at home. If you want to read how badly Spiderman did at the box office in USA, click here to read what Forbes has to say as well. You can see that the profits dip is one of the worst for the second week.

Save your money – and put it on something better at the box office.

Honda WRV first impressions and drive review

Introduction to Honda WRV

I had the chance to give my Civic for service at Dakshin Honda. During that time, I got a chance to look at the Honda WRV and drive the car. From a long time after reading many reviews and watching many videos, today I got a chance to drive the car personally. I opted for the Diesel version since I know a good deal about Honda’s petrol engines already being an owner of a Civic and a City earlier. The diesel engine is something new since sometime now and it was prudential for me to try it out.

Engine Options and Variants

As usual the car comes with two engine options a 1.2L petrol and a 1.5L diesel. The petrol is a 4 cylinder SOHC iVTEC engine at 1200 cc, churning out 90bhp of power at 6000 RPM and 110NM of Toruqe at 4800 RPM. The diesel on the other hand is a 4 cylinder DOHC iDTEC unit, at 1500 cc, churning out a 100bhp at 3600 RPM, and a torque of 200NM at 1750 RPM which is very healthy at least on paper. Among other features it comes with 16 inch alloy wheels which frankly in my opinion could very well upsize to 17 or even 18 inches.

On the variants there are two types SMT and VX-MT which I will explain a bit later.

Exteriors

The WRV has a muscular look, and while its sides are taken straight from the jazz, the front now sports a grill which has elements from the new Amaze, City, and BRV. Still there are few elements such as headlamps which are distinct and make the car gets its unique spot in the Honda lineup. The tail lamps are stylish too and unique in the segment. The overall exterior proportions are well rounded for a car of this category and no complaints in this department.

Interiors

Coming to the interiors, Honda has a few interesting things to look at. Firstly the dashboard is well made and feels plush and nice. The stereo system is very flat and does not stick out like in other cars. Blends well with the dash and its like a perfect fit. Though I did not get a chance to use the system too much, by the overall looks its a nice touch screen unit which does the job of what people look out most for – navigation, music, phone connectivity etc. However no Android Auto or Apple Car play – sorry, if you need these look elsewhere.

The seat space in the rear is phenomenal. Being 5’10” and keeping the driver seat at my comfort level, I could still sit at the back with quite some knee room to spare. There is one another thing Honda have changed since quite some time now. And that is the gear shift. The earlier shift was like a stick and was rather flimsy to use with a rounded head. The new one is much better and is a delight in terms of proportions and slots seamlessly into the different gears. The dashboard has more rectangular edges rather than circular and this is not necessarily so bad looking either. Its just left to the tastes of different users as such.

You can also notice in the images that there is indeed a dead pedal and Honda have thankfully not omitted it. Your longer highway cruises would now be better with that rested left leg. And yes needless to say top end variants will come with cruise control as well as steering mounted audio and phone controls. There are also lots of cubby holes in the car making it possible to store multiple things all around. The middle storage compartment has some Civic-ish cues as well though not as good. You can also notice a chilled cup holder next to the AC vent in the photos.

The selling point in this car is the Sun-Roof. No other car in its category provides this feature and Honda have done in offering this feature here. However the practicality of such a feature is questionable as driving with an open sun roof would surely affect the aerodynamics of the vehicle a bit. In Indian conditions with so much dust, pollution, mosquitoes, rains, and what not – this feature would best be in closed mode, rather than the other way round. Not a big deal breaker for sensible people – honestly.

Wouldn’t mind having it, but won’t die to have it.

The front seats also have rear pockets to place those magazines and possibly even a Macbook Air or so. The rear has ample space for occupants. The floor height is slightly raised for middle occupant, so it would be a bit uncomfortable for longer journeys and one will need to switch places frequently. You can also notice a quarter glass after the C-Pillar which adds to more roominess and light within the cabin.

Drive

I specifically wanted to test drive the 1500 Diesel as I had never driven a Honda Diesel before. Given I own a Civic now which is 1800cc, I did not want to drive the lack lustre 1200cc petrol of the WR-V. So diesel it had to be and diesel it was. A few things about this drive

The test drive route was long enough for me to test most parts of the driveability but short enough to return to base soon as well
The engine is noisy – there have been reviews about the Honda’s noisy diesel engine in its other cars such as Jazz, Amaze, City etc and here its no better. If you buy this variant the noise comes along with you
The steering is butter smooth – even better than the city or the civic I would say. Its an absolute joy to use in whatever condition of traffic. It is so sensitive, responsive and accurate that you really don’t have to try too much to manouvre
In the showroom the clutch of the WR-V was very hard in stationary state of the vehicle so I was dreading whether it would be as hard during the drive as well but I am happy to say that the clutch was super soft and easy to use during the drive and rest assured you will not get a pain in your legs so soon with this car
There is no automatic variant yet, but if news reports are correct then Honda might bring in the 1.5L variant mated to CVT just like in the city pretty soon
There is a 2 month waiting period on this car now already

Engine and NVH

And now to the drive. Well I hate to say this – but the diesel engine – is a disappointment. Coming from driving a Nissan Sunny which is known for its young at heart and roaring to race character, this WR-V engine seemed to be mostly tuned for more mileage and subsequently that meant removing the driving oomph from the car. This is more of a Point A to Point B engine. Sometimes I felt this was worse than an automatic Jazz. I am not sure what Honda was thinking here but people do not buy diesel just for mileage but also for proper use of the higher powered engine. If you have driven the Nissan Sunny Diesel, or the Scorpio or XUV diesel, or even Figo or Ecosport diesel – that level of urgency, revv happiness, and response is sorely missing. I double checked many times just to clarify this doubt and this car shows no urgency for acceleration on this variant.

Accelerating this engine makes so much noise inside the vehicle that one wonders what is all that damping setup doing in the car. Engine noise will filter through easily and its not a great experience as such. Just for comparision – you cannot hear the Civic engine inside the car. Apple to Orange comparision really I agree, but its a Honda to Honda comparison at least.

Torque

The grunt is there. But not the acceleration accordingly. I even went real slow on higher gears to check the torque. The torque is disappointing too. Beyond a point – say about 10kmph the car starts rattling begging for clutch to be held. This is quite where the Nissan Sunny shines through – low end torque. Even the Civic manages upto 5kmph on petrol engines without stalling. Honda sure has to rework on this tuning to improve it to a better state of tune if they want the torque to be managed better.

Suspension

The suspension in the WR-V is spongy. And it is really spongy. You go on a road hump or a deep pothole with speed and this car throws the occupants either sideways or bobs up and down. That is quite normal on any car, but the whole point is that this jumping about does not settle down so easily. Even with 210mm of ground clearance you still fear it will go all the way down to scrape the bump. And that is definitely not a good feeling. For a comparison I do not get that feeling with my Celerio, or even for that matter with the Duster too. I wouldn’t say Scorpio is great in that regard but there are some smaller cars that can put WR-V to shame.

Agreed this is not about making the suspension rigid but rather soft and luxurious. But it is seriously not helping in WR-V case to achieve what is desired. So its best you drive this car slowly and steadily. If you want road worthiness and suspension awesomeness go to a renault showroom.

Steering

One word : Awesome. Period.

Airconditioning

This is one department for which Honda is well known for and in the case of WR-V it is no surprise that the air conditioning is super cool. Chills you to the bone and pretty quickly. Well done Honda.

Tyres, Ground clearance

The tyres are stable and can be upsized as well by another inch or two if needed – so lots of customization possible here. Ground clearance is good enough to ensure vehicle does not scrape anywhere.

Pricing & Conclusion

The asking price for top variant is higher than Ford Ecosport by almost 75000-80000 and touches nearly 13 lacs on road. Ford provides 6 airbags which Honda offers only two for instance. There are so many features others offer which Honda may not have. The car is steeply priced no doubt and the going points for this car is mileage, space, ground clearance, feature set and steering – though not necessarily a punchy drive. You can download the brochure here.

In the long run this car would keep you satisfied and won’t get damaged due to bad roads in and around city. Highway trips won’t be exciting but rather sedate as the car would likely pick up speed at steady speed and does not like to be revved. Honda should quickly fix the pedal press versus response time problem in order to make this car even better. They can focus on better damping of engine noise within the car as well and provide an option to have sporty suspension as well which is slightly more rigid.

If this car were to have its top variant at 10 lacs this would have been the best value for money in the market so far. But Honda is like any other company and after all it has to price the car either slightly below or slightly above its competitors. So it has decided to be in the 10-12L bracket.

Still this is a car that will keep you happy even though some parts of the experience is slightly disappointing or not upto the mark. If you have the money and want a car that has mostly everything – the WR-V will not disappoint you. But at the end of the day it is a car, not an SUV or even an MUV for that matter. The traits of an SUV are great suspension, handling abilities and punchy engine – Honda has some catching up to do in this departments.

And without an automatic variant – its one star less again for the final ratings.

Sony XAV AX-100 6.4” Media Receiver (Car Stereo / Head Unit) review

Its rarely that I have ever written about car stereos under this blog, but now I have reason enough to do so. I recently had the need to upgrade my car stereo in my Old new honda Civic 2010. The last two times I went in for a Pioneer and a Blaupunkt head unit for two of my cars. For those days that was enough but then came the craze of Android Auto and Apple Car play. Besides this there were systems of an alternative kind – Screen mirroring type. Personally I prefer the former for a solid reason – Android Auto or Apple car play gives you only the essential apps (Phone, Music, Maps, and Messages including Whatsapp to be read out) so that you can focus on your driving more than fiddling with your phone.

But then in India buying gadgets such as head units for cars could turn out pretty expensive and only few can afford it. Personally I believe if you can afford a good smartphone, you can afford a good head unit for your car as well. Having said that, lets get straight down to the product review of the SONY XAV-AX100 AV Receiver

Sony XAV AX-100 head unit

The Sony XAV-AX100 is a 6.4 inch media receiver which supports Android Auto, Apple Car Play and Bluetooth to pair your phones with. One of the things I liked the most in this product is its touch screen. From a long time I was suffering with products with bad touch screens and you know how irritating it can get if your touch does not activate the right option on the screen especially while you are driving. In that respect this product is really good and very very accruate. The distraction free touch enables you to focus on driving and at the same time use the options the player provides.

On the main screen you can connect to bluetooth audio, and start playing your tracks and skip tracks or entire folders depending on how your media is organized. Before I proceed further I would like you to know that it supports USB as well so you can connect your pen drive (through a cable) and the player will pick up your tracks and play the same. At the time of this writing I have not checked whether it plays video as well. One another good thing about this unit is that for a volume controls they have given a dial which is easy to use. Sometimes the volume + and – if implemented via a software button is difficult to use in a touch screen. Unfortunately my civic does not have audio controls on steering so I am unable to use them for volume control. I was so used to this in the sunny and its definitely a dampner for me. The hardware also has three other buttons to advance or rewind tracks and a home button that provides you with the main menu.

As you can see from the picture, it supports Tuner, USB, Bluetooth, Phone and Rear Camera. I must say the Phone option is rather rudimentary on the unit itself and it just allows you to dial a number and disconnect the call, or answer an incoming call. If you need to mute the call, you need to reach out to your phone. But the good part – if you are a careful driver like me, you never need to do that since you would use Android Auto or Apple Car Play for handling these tasks. When you are on android auto, you cannot use the phone in a normal way since its connected to the head unit. But the best part is the voice commands using google work like a charm assuming you have good internet connectivity and you can pretty much ask google anything you want that is relevant to driving mode. Like driving directions, distance, other questions, and music searches. Its pretty accurate too. I have tried searching for music in languages other than english and it worked pretty well. Sometimes you must however learn to use vocabulary properly. For instance I asked google what are the meetings I have for today, which it did not catch. Rather I must have asked “What are my appointments on the calendar” and it would have answered properly.

The android auto is pretty simple. It shows Navigation, Phone, Music and your history other than the main menu. You can scroll through easily or switch between these activities. For calls, you can simply use voice to dial, rather than search but if you are the latter type, the favourites are listed for you instantly so you do not have to fumble around. I really loved the navigation as I usually put it on silent mode barring alerts, and its sufficient to display to me the map, with traffic data – heads up most of the time and distraction free driving. Your phone also charges during this process and I observed using navigation this way does not use up your battery unlike on standalone phone mode navigation. It does not heat up the phone either – so google – brownie points to you for this. Next is my favourite – Apple Car Play

Apple car play has much bigger icons and is more friendly to the touch. It also has Siri mode, but then we all know where this thing fails miserably – searching indian music tracks, and navigation. Sorry Apple but I am not going to change my opinion until your maps division in Hyderabad actually does something tangible. I guess this mode will make more sense in USA and other countries where it works much better for their style of English and the data available including maps part. However for all things Apple, I still love the implementation including the rather large icons which are friendly to use. Here also the apps are limited although some custom apps are avaialable too such as whatsapp. The reason I had to go for this unit is simple. I needed something that will drive component speakers and further a woofer through a separate amplifier. And for getting both Android Auto and Apple Car play support in this unit – that’s all I ever needed since I have both phones ! So bonus for me. My primary driver these days has been Google with its more accurate knowledge base.

The burning question: Price ? – its 26,999 everywhere – in store, online wherever. Is the asking price worth it ? Remember the device also features night mode, day mode display, and a firmware update possibility via pen drive. But the real question is how long sony will support this as such !! I would pay for this unit anyday just for two features it offers – Android Auto and the brilliant touch screen. It does have niggles like not updating song information sometimes, but then hey – these are silly things I can excuse as it happens only when you use both android auto and bluetooth. Soemtimes I use apple music on android phone, in that case the song info via bluetooth sometimes does not update. I still need to do a firmware upgrade. So these issues can be fixed via software.

If you are wanting a good head unit that supports Android and Apple driving modes, keeps you less distracted and makes you more disciplined – look no further purchase the SONY XAV-AX100 AV Receiver now.

Ford Ecosport new model launch pictures from LA auto show end 2016

As we all know, Ford has launched its latest EcoSport model in India now, Of all the things we come to expect of the Ford Ecosport, the touch screen navigation system and cruise control are noteworthy. Below are some pictures from the Ford booth in the LA auto show end of last year showing this new model. For more information you can visit Ford India website

Read why the Electrohome alarm projection clock is one of the most useful gadgets for every home

From a long time I had one drawback being myopic. If I removed my spectacles while sleeping at night, I could not read my clock no matter how near it was. It was annoying to switch the light on, or use any other means to read the time. The last thing I needed was to do all this to disturb my sleep and others’ sleep around me.

In India there are innovative and useless solutions for these things at the same time. Like the talking clock which was like someone spooking you from the dead in the middle of the night, to Ajanta’s huge big LED clock that required a 220V AC supply which it had to be tied upto in order to display a red LED schemed clock somewhere high up on the wall. I was always yearning to just lie down on the bed, and know what the time was without audio hints, or switching on the light or disturbing others.

Enter the electrohome projection clock sold on Amazon.com. From a long time I was fascinated by projection clocks, but never really understood how difficult they would be to maintain over a period of time. Plus the nuisance of their availability only abroad meant that I could never ask someone to get me one or even buy it myself simply because it would not be shipped to India.

I had a chance to go to USA on an official trip, where I decided to order this off Amazon to fulfil my long standing desire to own a projection clock. For 29.99$ this was not very expensive, so I went ahead and ordered it. Amazon shipped it to me promptly enough. The one drawback in year 2016 was that these were still being shipped with 110V power adapter instead of having a universal 110-220V one, which meant I had to do more gimmicks to get it working in India. I had to plug in into a crude step down transformer to ensure I did not blow the device up by mistake.

Once I setup the device, I was rather pleasantly surprised, and very happy with the investment made on the most important feature of the clock – the projected clock face. The clock projects via a red LED, the time to the nearest point on the wall or ceiling. And the digits were huge, and could be read at any time of the night with or without spectacles, even if you were in half sleep. I have even tried reading it through a mosquito net (commonly used while sleeping in a country like India) and it was still quite legible. However I must point out here that projection it to a rather far off surface beyond 10 feet may not yield great visibility all the time.

With two alarms, a button to switch the clock face by 180 degrees depending on how you would like to read it, and a soothing blue LED clock display with three brightness levels, and an add on FM radio, this thing is totally worth the 30 bucks you put on it. There are so many people who design something but the ultimate question is always on how usable it is eventually. In the case of the Electrohome projection clock, this is the best value for money 30 bucks can give you for a clock. Highly legible, highly non intrusive, always there for you on the ceiling or a nearby wall, bright and clear and with good amount of features – all these make the buy an absolutely valuable one. There are even focus controls for improving legibility on each wall you project the clock to. Further to that for a country like India, a feature where there is an internal battery to keep track of time in case of a power cut, adds all the more icing on the cake. And it even displays the ambient temperature based on where you have put the sensor to measure the same.

So should you buy one of these? Oh heck absolutely yes. Plonk 30 bucks and order it right now, and I give you my word, you would not be disappointed with the purchase. Be reminded that to use this in India, you need a step down transformer 220v to 110v. Plug it in, and enjoy the show.

Logitech M570 – the real Mighty Mouse (One year usage review)

Its been one year. The M570 from Logitech still exists. It still works with the same battery put in a year ago. And it has a story to tell. Of Endurance, of a good product design, and perhaps the way in which all products need to be created. Some things just work. And they slog it out with you, being with you through your toughest times in life, hand in hand, shoulder by shoulder with a never say die attitude.

The M570 is one such mouse in case you are wondering, which I consider as the most important investment I made in my 15 years of industry life. The irony is that I made this investment only now and no earlier. The good news is that I at least made it now and no later. I must thank two of my colleagues who exposed me to this beauty of a product without which I would have never known how useful and game changing it could be in my life.

Coming to the specifics, this is a mouse that does not budge. Contrary to the mice we always knew and used, this one just wont move. The rubber pads below the mouse hold it tight against any surface, and this in my opinion is the first good part of this design. No matter how slippery your hand is, the mouse wont budge.

The next and most important highlight of this mouse is its blue shining tracking wheel or trackball as its called. The guiding light. It moves perfectly (save for a few times when the pointer jumped) and you can use it to move nimbly to point exactly where you want it to be before clicking that left or right mouse button which we have been clicking all our lives. The perfection in moving the pointer – the accuracy of the movement gives it such preciseness that it saves a lot of time in aimless moving the pointer around. Absolute bliss.

The buttons themselves are the same as any other mouse, just the same – except with the trackball they work in tandem to produce precise clicks and usage situations which don’t let your hand feel the pressure at any point in time. The battery is lasting over a year and this is really good for a wireless mouse which otherwise would die in a month or two. This is where I feel the bloody Apple mighty mouse and other shit don’t stand a chance in front of the Logitech M570 any day. And even as I write I don’t even know how much more longer the battery may last. Maybe another year or two, who knows!?

Every good thing will come at a price. So also the M570. It costs about 3200 INR, which by no means is cheap for a mouse. But then we are not talking about any mouse here. We are talking about the best mouse for productivity here. No, not for gaming. That is and will always be a different domain where there maybe much better and bigger mice to deal with those things. For productivity and office work, there can be nothing to beat the M570 as of today. And its a full value for money for the money paid for this device.

Before I conclude, it is simply not that everyone can buy one of these beasts and get comfy with them. Its like taking care of something you like, getting used to it until you start craving for it everyday. Its like beer, not everyone has a fancy to it, but once you like it there is no going back on it. And it is not also that many people cannot use it. You need to unlearn to learn. And you should not get intimidated by its looks or functionality. As long as you have a will to learn how to use it, it takes exactly 2 days to get used to it after which you will scoff at any normal mouse given to you.

There was one day I left this device in my office, and I almost drove back to office for 15km to pick it up before my impending trip abroad. You cannot live without it. Such is the need it creates. Working seamlessly across multi-monitor tabs, it does not show even a hint of slowing down with whatever you want it to do.

So would I recommend you to buy one of these? If you have the money why hell yes. Absolutely. If you do not have the money, even then I would want you to buy one on monthly EMI. Remember the Hero Honda Ad? Its the same here. Buy it, fill it, shut it, remember it. Hail Logitech, hail M570. You are me, and I am you. So when are you starting your mouse hunt? 🙂

The cheapest I was able to get this mouse at was at IT Depot online at 3490 INR, with an offer of 5% off on a debit card which made it a bit lesser. It comes with a 3 year logitech warranty which you may never need considering its mightiness.

Bose Sound link Color short review

I had the opportunity to get my hands on the Bose Sound Link Color bluetooth speaker. This happened when I was actually wanting to invest on the Harman Aura which in my opinion blew everything else away. But then these two speakers are like comparing apples and oranges and should not be done. Nevertheless in this post I will speak briefly about the Bose.

As the name suggests this speaker comes in different colors and the one I had was a red one for my test. The speaker itself is very portable and easy to handle. It might be slippery at times so its better to take care of it properly. The buttons on the top are neatly placed and are self explanatory. One of the things I liked was that there is a voice guide which says when the bluetooth is ready to pair, when its paired, to which phone its paired, etc. I always feel good when a voice prompt double confirms to me that I am doing things right.

Pairing is as easy as 1-2-3 on the iphone. Just power on speaker, power on bluetooth, find the stuff on your iphone and you are good to connect. Thats all there is to it. The Bose would pair to multiple devices but that is a fixed number.

The rear has a USB power supply port, and an AUX in port which I believe no one may use it these days much as compared to bluetooth. This is as much as the hardware really offers.
The next obvious thing to look at is the sound quality itself. There is really no problem with the sounds. Every sound is separated properly and there is never a distortion even at higher volumes. The base drums kind of sound flat after a point clearly proving that without a woofer, the speakers alone cannot do wonders. The bass is loud at most and not room shattering or deep even. But then the speaker is very portable, runs on charged battery for few hours and these are not there in the Harman Aura. The Aura is an AC powered speaker and thats its drawback. But then its also a more powerful one compared to the soundlink color.
It retails for somewhere close to 10000 on Amazon india. The soundlink II is about 18000, and the Aura is 25000 as of last pricing for Diwali sale.
I further listened to different types of songs including old indian classics, classical music, drums, pop, film songs, and theme songs from Spiderman, MI Rogue nation, etc. At any moment the Bose was composed but it really lacked that room shattering depth which was sorely missed by me. The 5.1 Bose systems, or even the soundbar systems with the woofer delivers this depth but then they are all mighty expensive as well.
So Will I buy the bose soundlink color? – NO. I may buy the Soundlink II or III after testing them, but something tells me that the Harman Aura is way ahead of bose in the sound rendering and it hits a bulls eye on that aspect. Of course by no means the two can be even considered for a comparision, but it is always good to know what the Aura adds for the price and how it really makes a difference. But then when a person is spending 25000 there are also other speakers available at that price, even 5.1s or soundbar options.
Whats your take on this product? Let me know whether you have one, and your opinions on that in the comments section below.

Why the Park Chennai does not cut it when it comes to 5 Star hotels in Chennai

I had an opportunity to stay in the Park hotel, Chennai for business reasons. Most people needing to travel to Chennai to the US embassy prefer this hotel due to location. Also its a 5 star hotel. I did the booking on on Booking.com a fairly well known travel website. It was painless to book and the hotel clarified whatever information was needed when they were called.

First the traffic around the place is horrendous. Gemini Flyover sure has seen generations in chennai and the traffic around this place makes it impossible to cross the road unless one uses the subway. If you think people will behave the same way as other cities when it comes to driving skills, be warned – this city wont wait for you to cross. If you value your life, be safe.

Now to the hotel itself. Given my very brief stay, I did not get to experience the restaurants, pool and other areas towards the terrace. The building is rather old and it is beginning to show at many places. The rooms were comfortable, and had mostly everything you would need. Two bottles of mineral water, a well stocked mini bar, tea/coffee making machines with creamer, sugar and coffee/tea supplies. The mini bar was as expected chargeable if you were to take anything from there.

For a change the bed was NOT spongy and springy like other hotels. I had a stiff but comfortable bed something that I usually long for in hotels, and soft pillows to provide even more comfort. Each room gets an individually controllable central airconditioning with the temperature setting panel on the wall. Now this is where I would like 5 star hotels to think a bit. When smaller hotels offer a remote control how come such a hotel decided not to provide this?

There was a sofa, stool and a high stool to place luggage which is wishful thinking. There was no fan in the room. Now you might argue that in a 5-star hotel a fan worsens the ambience. But thats not the point. A fan provides some instant air circulation while the aircon takes it own time. With all the windows closed, and curtains around, any hotel room begins to become stuffy. And this is exactly where you need a fan. If you cannot provide a ceiling fan, give a table fan or a tower fan. In a country like india, there are thousands of options available, you need to just think.

The lights were dim and not sufficient to work, I personally prefer some white light in the room, but this one had only yellows. To each his own opinion so I will leave this there!

One of the most important parts of the room which is lesser spoken about is the toilet. While the toilet itself was good and it was well appointed with whatever you would expect I found one glaring issue. A missing health faucet. Even the train I came by to chennai had one and I simply cannot understand why a 5-star hotel like the Park decided to do away with it. For me cleanliness is very important and people like me who are very personal hygiene conscious will surely be pissed off with this omission.

The bathtub was great, and so was the showers (plural). I did find another thing quite annoying. the flush in the toilet would go off only after 30 seconds each time. Now do we really need to waste water like this because we are a 5-star? In India everyone is expected to be conservative even if we flaunt money. Someone somewhere in the hotel chain needs to make this distinction and take the baton. A few hotels have begun not washing the bedding if we say so, and water conservation is just another similar matter.

Also the hot water was not really hot, at best warm. Which turned cold every few minutes once. What is the point? In spite of keeping my AC completely turned off in the room and without a fan, the whole room was so cold simply because the aircon in the corridors was too cold. After all this, if you find that you do not have hot water, hot enough to your wish it becomes very difficult to stay put in the room. I complained, someone did something, and nothing changed much.

The room service menu was a horror to see. You know its not the money part really that pinches me. Before you begin to assume things about me, I have the money that it takes to order whatever is there on that list. But when the rates of items are in dollars you seriously begin to wonder what is the value they bring compared to any really decent hotel nearby. We have heard of indians being charged less and foreigners more in tourist places. Why can the hotels not adopt similar policy? For indians charge in rupees and for others charge in their currency at a certain reasonable amount.

A cup of authentic Madras filter coffee is priced at Rs.250/- Even cafe coffee day will have to hang their head in shame at this rate. The best one can give for a cup of filter coffee in chennai no matter where it is served is 50 bucks. Not five times that. Well you may now begin to say I don’t deserve to stay there if I cannot consume something at that price. Not exactly. Any item you see in the list is either 550, 750 or 1000 bucks. So for example a dosa maybe 1000 bucks. Can I see you frown now? I’m glad you get the point.

This is perhaps the only hotel where alcoholic drinks are cheaper than tiffin.

Thankfully there was free WiFi – the basic needs of engineers according to the revised Maslow’s laws of hierarchal needs. And it was quite fast. I hate any hotel not offering complementary wifi these days. And the Park did not disappoint. I never even bothered to ask anyone for travel arrangements within the hotel. I had Ola, Uber and the million autos just outside the gate. So that’s one brownie point less to the Park.

The next morning was the complimentary breakfast. Now I must say the restaurant 601 in the hotel, did an exemplary job with the kind of breakfast spread they offered. Simply amazing. Tasty. And full of variety. English breakfast, South indian everything you needed was there. Good job Park.

Check in was quite late but check out was not. They can have more than three reception staff as the flow of visitors is high. Further, I was offered during checkout that I could come and refresh and go even later in the day, which is a nice touch. I did read the book kept in the room on the hotel rules and I must say I did not feel so welcoming with the way the language was presented. Perhaps someone needs to be more youthful in whats shown to visitors. You can’t do this, you can’t do that, we dont appreciate this, we dont appreciate that. You know the whole book sounds negative. Dont be rude to our staff, we dont like pets – blah blah blah.

I dont mind you saying we must not be rude to your staff, but it also applies the other way round. Please understand that visitors to the hotel are generally tired, and not always in the best moods due to whatever other problems they are in. I do get the point that some visitors act like they are the Kings and Queens of some faraway kingdom, but not all are like that. That is why hospitality is a difficult business. Its all about how to put up a nice face even when the customer has issues with the hotel. Anyway this is something for you to handle, and not me. But putting up the rulebook like what you have – I would have changed certain things in it the way it was said.

In Summary, I did have a nice time at your hotel with some awesome breakfast, and a comfortable room, but with some important things being omitted in the room and toilet, and the horrendous pricing of your food items, I guess this is only a place to stay not to eat. For eating there is always a Saravana Bhavan at a stones throw away (<1km, Gopalapuram) which you can walk to. With room rates around 6000 to 7000 a night, I think a lot more can be done to better the experience for visitors.

The Hyundai Creta first look

Today I got a chance to visit the Hyundai Showroom to take a look at the Creta, their newly launched mini SUV. As you would already be knowing by now this big fella is making headlines all over India as the latest on the block to demolish all other SUVs on the market (which includes Ford Ecosport, Duster, Scorpio, XUV and also the not yet launched S-Cross from Maruti).

Will the Creta have enough under its belt to take away the throne from the others? Looks? Performance? Comfort? Space? Read on.

There was no big fanfare about the Creta and as I entered the showroom, there it was in full glory in Cherry Red colour. I have been reading all about Creta in the last one month and I must tell you that I share the same opinion as the others when it comes to looks. No amount of photographs will be enough to explain the real perspective of a human mind unless you look at the car in person.

The design is brilliant. Initially I thought that the grill in the front would jut out just too much to make it bulky as seen in many of the reviewers photos. But you know what? Not at all. I mean really. As is the case with hyundai they have created an SUV with a massive appearance. It will really have some presence on the road. You need to see it to beleive it.

The macho front grill, the beautiful fog lamps, the triangle shaped bright orange indicators, and the imposing headlamps all of these add value to the overall body. The side profile is similar so XUV but a bit more sober and lends very well to the overall character of the car. Though Korean in nature the unmistakable thud while closing the doors is a bit reassuring. No wonder then that this car apparently has very high C-NCAP ratings.

The whole design begins to rise towards the rear ending a Santa Fe like tail lamp cluster which bodes very well to complete the muscular look. In terms of looks and styling Hyundai have a winner compared to the Duster. It even beats the Ford Ecosport by a small margin in my opinion. Somehow the XUV rear end looks very heavy and not connected to the frontal portions and side profiles. The cheetah inspiration has gone a bit too far. Hyundai have kept it simple and copying the Santa Fe has worked wonders for Creta.

Enough said about the front. I got into all the seats one by one. First and foremost, I did find that there was ample thigh support in all seats. Maybe some reports might be biased on this count, but I found the seats to be pretty well made and very cozy and comfortable. Hyundai has the bad habit of placing seats so deep that even the driver cannot see any part of the car and has to drive by assumptions. But somehow in Creta the seat height is better than in a say i-20 which means you can now see the road better if not the bonnet. Having said that, the rear bench has very generous leg room even for a person my height (5’10”). And that when my own comfortable position is adjusted on the drivers seat. To give you a perspective I can make a young kid of 1-2 years stand in front of me on rear seat. Thats the amount of space available. Rest assured each and every journey will be more than satisfying on this car.

The front row seats have good cushioning, good grip and engulf you well enough to keep you cocooned. I am somehow not a big fan of vertical aircon vents, and this disappoints me with Creta. But as such the looks dont appear spoilt with this dashboard design. There are enough cubby holes for all your knick knacks. And its obviously a hyundai. So this is expected. The steering is well architected, with nicely placed controls. The driver door has rest of all the controls which make it easy to use. I specifically like the mirror adjust angled towards the driver on the door, which is really a thought out placement.

The stereo system with all functions perhaps will be available only in the top end model as defined in the brochure here. The prices on road in Bangalore vary between 11.5 lakhs and 17+ lakhs which is very steep for whats on offer. Take a look at it below

Overall the car also has ample boot space, and passenger space which is its defining point. I have not yet got a chance to drive this far enough to make a conclusion, but I do not see why it can give other SUVs some nightmares.

Until I drive the SUV more and find out its bits and pieces which are of interest, I will leave you with some stunning pictures of what Hyundai has created for the Indian market. I am more than sure this will set their sales charts on fire.